Toast to Ted Lapadakis who passed in 2014

Gary
Lee Conrad was born in Los Angeles in 1943. His family moved to
Palmdale when he was 12 and he lived there for 58 years. In 1960, he
graduated from Palmdale High School where he met the love of his life,
Linda. Gary served in the National Guard for eight years and
worked most of his life as a New Construction Plumber. But, his
greatest passion was motorcycle riding.

Debby Cole accepts Trailblazers Hall of Fame award for Gary Conrad

Mel
Dinesen, who passed away in 2006 at the age of 93, had been a
motorcycle dealer in Bakersfield, CA. dating back to 1950 where he sold
Indian into the 1980s with Yamaha, Hodaka and other brands. He first
made headlines as a race tuner in 1960 when 16-year old Eddie Mulder
won the famed Big Bear Grand Prix on one of his Royal Enfields. Dinesen
went on to sponsor numerous riders from central and southern California
in dirt track racing and roadracing with Ron Pierce, a young
Bakersfield rider. Ron won numerous AFM and AMA races for Mel which
earned him a spot on the Yamaha factory team beginning in 1968.

Chris
Carter was born in Palo Alto, California on April 23, 1951. His life on
two wheels began, like many others, with a Schwinn Stingray bicycle
which he used for his paper route. Every day he’d pedal by some
neighborhood kids riding dirt bikes in a vacant lot. After hanging
around long enough the boys let him have a turn and Chris was hooked on
dirt bike riding.

Chris Carter is also receiving the inaugural “Lucile Flanders Award,”

Rob
Morrison was born in 1952 and grew up in Fontana, California. He
started riding motorcycles at 16. Then one day in the late 1960’s Rob
accompanied his father to Perris Raceway to watch the TT Scrambles
races. Rob was hooked and was soon racing himself. By 1971 Rob was a
rising star racing in the District 37 Expert class, riding for shops
like K&N and Ontario Cycle. In 1972 Rob moved up to an AMA Pro
Novice license. Riding a Pete Pistone tuned Bultaco; he won the 1972
California State Championship. He moved up to the Junior class in 1973
and started riding a Norton built by “Big Bill” Rychlik and Harold
Allison. He did well enough on the Norton to be promoted to Expert in
1974.

Ron
Bishop was born in Woodland, Washington, in 1943. His family moved to
Southern California when he was 10 and settled in Escondido. Escondido
was a hub of motorcycling activity and it wasn’t long before little Ron
was blazing around on a Cushman Eagle scooter, which he naturally took
off-road. He rapidly moved from the scooter to a Mustang and eventually
to his first real motorcycle, a Zundapp 250cc Super Sabre. Ron Bishop
was inducted into the AMA Hall of Fame in 2001 for his many
accomplishments in off-road racing. In September 2014, he passed away
due to natural causes, not long after his seventieth birthday.

Walt
Axthelm was born in Upland, Pennsylvania, in 1933. His family moved to
Southern California when he was 14 years old and Walt soon got a junior
motor license and his first motorbike, a Schwinn-bicycle-framed
Whizzer. His first races were against his buddies who had Whizzers and
scooters of their own. He loved to ride and in the afternoons he would
go down to the L.A. riverbed and practice until dark. When Walt was 17
he began racing his first true motorcycle, a rigid-framed Royal Enfield.

Neil
Fergus was born in San Francisco, California in 1931. His family soon
moved to Sierra Madre, California and it was there that Neil began his
love of motorcycling. Neil bought his first motorcycle at age 16. He
rode mostly off road in any vacant lot he could find. Soon he was
taking the bike out to the Mojave Desert to ride, and began entering
desert races.

Thad
Wolff was born in Los Angeles in 1959 and has lived in nearby Thousand
Oaks his whole life. One day, a neighbor’s father offered to take Thad
to a motorcycle race nearby and the event changed his life. The race
was the Trans-Am and Thad climbed a tree to watch Torsten Hallman, Joel
Robert and, Roger DeCoster dominate the American riders.

CH
Wheat became a racing contender in Southern California in Class C dirt
track and also roadraces, as well as off-road races in the west with
top finishes at DeAnza Park, Catalina Grand Prix, Torrey Pines roadrace
and more. He rode against some of the best of his era including Ed
Kretz Sr., Ed Kretz Jr., Jimmy Philips, Ray Tanner, George Everett,
Dick Dorresteyn, Johnny Gibson, Dick Mann, Tex Luse, Walt Axthelm, and
Don Hawley. For CH, racing was fun and most images of him show his
winning smile. His most “fun” race came at the 1957 Riverside TT
Pacific Coast Championship where he battled Ed Kretz Jr. for 25 laps.
The duo passed each other more than three times every lap and crossed
the finish line virtually side-by-side to a standing ovation from the
crowd in the grandstands.

CH Wheat received the Dick Hammer Award from Don, Keith and Skip VanLeeuwen

Malcum
Smith and Jack Penton
Bryan
Farnsworth and Dave Ekins

John
Hateley on Dick Mann Triumph replica
Gary Bryson and Keith Mashburn
Steve McLaughlin and John

Thanks to Randy and Mark Zimmerman / Specialty Fabrication for the wine from Ramspur.